The Contagious Diseases Act : or a few suggestions for controling [i.e. controlling] men as well as women

THE

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT.

OR A

FEW SUGGESTIONS

FOE

(MTROLIM men as well as women.

"Dat veiiiam corvis, vexat ceusura columbas." — Juvenal.

LONDON:

Printed foe the Author by HENDERSON, RAIT, & FENTON,

60, MARYLEBONE LANE, OXFORD STREET.
[Applications for more Copies may be made to the Printers.']

LONDON :

HENDERSON, RAIT, AND FENTON, GENERAL PRINTERS,
69, JIAKYLEDONE LANE, OXFORD ST., \T.

THE

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT,

OR A

FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTROLING MEN AS
WELL AS WOMEN.

INTRODUCTION.

Whether the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866 and
1869 should be repealed, or remain on the Statute
book, is a question on which it is exceedingly difficult
for us to make up our minds, however desirous we
may be to do so.

The violation of personal freedom, the legalization
of sin, and the hitherto unheard of powers which
these Acts confer on the police, are objections that
force themselves on the attention of every one. At
the same time, syphilitic diseases are such a scourge
to the innocent as well as the guilty, that it seems
difficult to find fault with any laws, however stringent,
which have been made for their extermination.

Thus the mind halts between two opinions. It can
hardly be otherwise. The pleadings used on both sides
are so convincing that, if an impartial reader peruses
one side only, he thinks it impossible for arguments
to be produced that will counterbalance such a weight

4

of reasoning ; and, when he compares both sides, he
is at a loss to come to a conclusion which will satisfy
his mind.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding this uncertainty
which attaches to the question of repealing the Acts,
there is a point on which all are agreed — one common
ground on which all opinions meet, — and that is the
desire to bring the man rather than the woman to
grief, seeing that he cannot plead necessity as his
excuse, and that he is always aware of the harm he
is inflicting. Any law, therefore, which would transfer
the penalty, or part of the penalty, from the female
to the male offender, would meet the wishes of all
parties ; and, if the Contagious Diseases Acts are not
repealed, it would deprive them of that injustice
which is their most repugnant feature.

But how is such a measure to be accomplished, or
how are we to make any approximation towards its
accomplishment ?

It is evident that no direct law can be passed for
the punishment of men who communicate contagious
diseases. Such a law would be too alien to the spirit
of the times. The Legislature would not, and could
not, pass it. Neither would there be any use in
appealing to the common sense and common feeling
of the nation. Such appeals are of use only when
they coincide with public opinion ; and public opinion
always takes the part of young men against bad
women. *

* See Appendix B.

That, however, which cannot be done by direct
legislation or appeals to the public, may be brought
about by other means — by the enforcement of existing
statutes, or by the revival of usages which have fallen
into desuetude, or by side laws which will have an
indirect influence on the offender. To give some
instances of these will be our object in the following
pages. Not that we are sanguine enough to imagine
that our suggestions, or, indeed, that any sugges-
tions will have much effect. But they may do a
little towards breaking the ice on a subject which
has never yet, as far as we know, been discussed in
this or any other country.

With these prefatory remarks, we propose, for the
mitigation of the acknowledged evil, — ■

I. — An Act analogous to the Law of Filiation.
II. — A New and Improved System of Quarantine.

III. — The Extension to the Soldiers in Garrisons of

the Contagious Diseases Act, xxxix. Vic-
toria, cap. 35.

IV. — An Extension of the Sanitary Act, xxix. and

xxx. Victoria, cap. 90, sec. 38.

6

CHAPTER I.

An Act Analogous to the Law of Filiation.

A great means of checking the spread of contagious
disease would be to make the man who communicates
it to a prostitute liable for the cost of her maintenance
during the time she is in the Government asylum.

According to the Law of Filiation, a single woman
who is enceinte, and has no other means of maintain-
ing herself and child, may go into the union-house ;
and, on her pointing out the man who is responsible
for her condition, the Guardians can compel him to
reimburse them for her and her child's maintenance ;
and, if he fails to do so, they can send him to
prison.

Now, might not this plan, or something analogous,
be adopted as a check to the spread of contagious
disease %

When Lock Hospitals become general (which
sooner or later will be the case) each woman who is
admitted into one of these institutions may be ques-
tioned as to the origin of her malady ; and, if she can
name the person from whom she contracted it, he
may be compelled to reimburse the hospital for the
expense of her cure and maintenance, or suffer im-
prisonment until the amount be paid.

Objections Considered and Answered.

§ 1. The first objection which will, of course, be
made to this proposal is, that it would give women
the power of accusing innocent men, whether unin-
tentionally from mistake, or intentionally for the

7

purpose of extorting money. But those who make
this objection should remember that it applies in a
much stronger degree to the law of filiation ; under
which it does not appear that false accusations have
taken place to any great extent. We say "in a much
stronger degree" because there is a decided difference
between the two cases. Under the law of filiation a
charge may be brought against a respectable man (a
master of a family, for instance), and he may have no
means of disproving it ; whereas, under the enactment
proposed, no man can be charged with communicating
disease to a woman unless he be himself diseased, or
has lately been so ; in which case he would not be
what is commonly called a "respectable man."

§ 2. Another objection is that the measure would
be inoperative from the amount of penalty not being
sufficient to restrain profligate young men. But this
objection exists in theory rather than in practice. It
is a mistake to suppose that, because a pecuniary
penalty is small in comparison with the offence, it is
disregarded by the mass of the population who come
within its scope. They who are rich enough to make
light of a small mulct form a trifling minority of the
population of a country. The far greater number
have no more than sufficient for their necessities, and
would find the weekly payment for the maintenance
of the patient a serious incumbrance. Those, again,
who are in easier circumstances would be affected in
another way, even more seriously. Young men of the
middle classes have a great dread of appearing before
magistrates. They are so dependent on their character
for their success in life, that to have their names
brought before the public in connection with a dis-
graceful affair is ruin to them. It cannot, therefore,
be doubted that such a law would exercise a repressive
influence upon the great mass of the community.

§ 3. A third objection may be urged against this

8

proposal — viz,, that, seeing women are, as a rule,
imperfectly acquainted with the men from whom they
receive infection, they cannot designate them. "How,"
it will be said, " can they give up the names of
strangers?" As an argument, this seems at first
sight fatal to the proposed measure ; yet it is the
reverse of conclusive if examined more closely, for it
applies only to professional prostitutes in the largest
cities. In country villages (where, it maybe observed
in passing, contagious diseases are quite as common
as in towns, and more dangerous, because less under
medical control) there will be no difficulty in tracing
the offender. Neither does it apply to the Universities,
nor to Garrison towns, nor to any towns of ordinary
size ; because, in all such, profligate men form a class
apart, sufficiently well known to the prostitutes and
to the civil authorities.

§ 4. But, it will be said, even should a woman
know the name of the man who has infected her, she
will not betray him. Her reluctance to appear before
magistrates, her misplaced feeling of honour, or her
compassion for her paramour, will prevent her coming-
forward as his accuser.

Such an inference might strongly affect the proposed
measure if its working depended on the woman be-
coming the prosecutor. But this will not be necessary.
The initiative will be taken by the parochial autho-
rities, or managers of the institution; and all that
will be required of her will be to give information.
Nor is this likely to be refused, after proper exhorta-
tion and counsel. Everyone who has had much to
do with hospitals knows how tractable patients be-
come when they have been a short time domiciled in
the wards.

9

CHAPTER II.

A New and Improved System of Quarantine.

There is a general opinion that the worst forms of
syphilis are imported from abroad by our sailors,
especially those returning from our Eastern dominions.
And when the Contagious Diseases Acts were so much
discussed in 1865 and 1867, one of the principal
arguments in their favour was, that being enforced in
the larger naval stations they would confine the con-
tagion to those localities, and prevent its advancing
further into the country.

But, though this argument was a valid one as far as
the common soldiers and sailors were concerned, it
unhappily does not hold good as regards the officers.
The younger officers, on landing, proceed at once to
the metropolis, where they spread disease without
thought ; or else they repair to their homes in the
country, and thus the parsonage and the manor-house
become too often fresh centres of contagion.

The only effectual way to remedy this evil would
be the adoption and strict enforcement of a Quarantine
Law, which would subject men of all ranks to a me-
dical examination before they were allowed to land.
And to be effectual, this law ought to be made appli-
cable to the mercantile service, as well as to the Royal
Navy ; and not only, as at present, to the principal
naval stations, but to every port along the coast.

It is worthy of remark that one of our Eastern
colonies, which has scrupulously carried out this
arrangement, has been especially free from contagious
disease.*

* See Appendix A.

10

CHAPTER III.

Extension of the Act xxxix. Victoria, cap. 35

There should be a bond fide examination of our
soldiers on their entering our service, instead of the
present one, which — at least in the case of officers — is
little more than nominal. And the practice of exam-
ining the men periodically should also be revived.

The object which Government had in view for insti-
tuting periodical examinations under the Contagious
Diseases Acts being; to ensure the health of the sol-
diers, one would have thought that a more direct way
of accomplishing this object would have been to
examine the soldiers themselves, rather than the
women with whom they cohabited.

Such a practice is adopted (it is said) with great
success in the Belgian Service ; and twenty or thirty
years ago it was also the practice in our own. The
soldiers were examined once a month, or once a fort-
night, by their regimental surgeons, and, if found
diseased, were sent into hospital.

This was not only a more direct method of arresting
the spread of disease in a garrison than the present one
of inspecting- women, but it was also preferable in
other respects ; for it was less easily evaded, and it
embraced a larger number of individuals in its scope.
The reason of its being discontinued was chiefly the
demoralising effect which it was supposed to have on
the soldier's mind, by violating his sense of delicacy.
But if the periodical examinations of women now
adopted do not deteriorate the prostitute's mind
(which is the opinion of those who are best
acquainted with the working of the new Act) it

11

is not easy to see why they should deteriorate the
soldier's. For, as a general rule, his moral sense is
not more acute than the prostitute's.

There are exceptional regiments, no doubt, and
there are exceptional men in all regiments ; but as a
general rule soldiers are an immoral class. The well-
principled ones form a small minority, who (being for
the most part religious and thoughtful men) would
not mind a regulation which they knew to be for the
general good. Nor is there any reason why men of
recognized character might not be exempted from the
examination, as has always been the case with regard
to married men.

Any commanding officer, therefore, who revives
the practice, or who prevents its discontinuance
where it still exists, will deserve the best thanks of
the population among whom he is quartered. The
towns which may in future become military stations
will then have less reason to fear the presence of
regiments coining among them ; and, in the old-
established garrisons, which are already included in
the schedule of the Act, the two systems of exami-
nations, supplementing each other, will render the
spread of contagion less probable than ever.

12

CHAPTER IV.

Extension of the Sanitary Act, Victoria xxix,

cap. 90.

There might be an extension, or, at all events, a
more rigorous enforcement, of the Act Victoria xxix.,
cap. 90, by which persons, wilfully causing infection
to others, or committing any act which may have
the effect of spreading fevers or other infectious
maladies, are considered guilty of misdemeanour and
punished accordingly. This Act is not generally
known, and hitherto it has been very sparingly used ;
the chief convictions under it being those of poor
persons travelling in public conveyances. But one
cannot see why it might not be brought to bear
against men who spread contagious diseases of the
kind we are treating of. It might apply to them
as the wording now stands. At all events, it might
be made to apply to them, by the very slight
addition of the word "contagious," after the word
" infectious."

Some persons will object that, however desirable
the enforcement of this law may be in theory, it must
fail in practice, because there would be so few convic-
tions under it, owing to the difficulty of finding wit-
nesses and prosecutors. But, in answer to this objec-
tion, our readers should consider — First, that it is
not necessary for the success of a legislative measure
that it should be perpetually enforced. If only one
offender in a thousand be brought to justice and his
offence made public, his example will be sure to
deter others. And secondly, that the enforcement
of a law depends more on the energy of a few persons

13

than of the public prosecutor. It is wonderful how
much a few individuals, working unanimously and
employing efficient agents, can do towards enforcing
or modifying the acts of the Legislature. We have-
proof of this in the Society of which the Shield is
the organ, and in the affiliated Vigilance Society.

But the best illustration of our meaning is afforded
by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. Thirty years ago, when a few persons united
to form an association for the enforcement of the law
against cruelty to animals, every one predicted that it
would be a failure. They said that the system was
too novel — that no convictions could take place under
it — that no prosecutors or witnesses could be found.
By the energy, however, of a few spirited individuals
and the employment of able and zealous agents this
law is now far from being inoperative. Many kinds
of cruelty have disappeared from our streets ; and
many sports which, it was supposed, the populace
would never consent to forego, have been abolished.

Is it not, therefore, possible that a day may
arrive when some zealous philanthropists, employ-
ing energetic agents, may render the Act Victoria
xxix., cap. 90, really effective, in deterring men as well
as women from communicating; contagious diseases %

11

CONCLUSION.

We have made tlie above suggestions in order to
prove that it would not be so difficult, as is generally
supposed, to bring about a more equitable treatment
of the sexes.

That nothing of the kind has ever been thought of,
either here or on the Continent, is certainly extraordi-
nary, considering how much has been done and is
being done by philanthropists in England for the pro-
tection of females, and how many European Govern-
ments have enacted laws for the regulation of prosti-
tution.

But civilization advances with rapid strides ; and
the experience of the last fifty years proves that it
brings not only social science but also the improve-
ment of morals along with it. Our children, there-
fore, may live to see the two sexes placed on an
equal footing, and the young man treated with as
little respect as the had woman.

In conclusion, we must again remind, our readers
— for it cannot be too often repeated — that the diffi-
culty of enforcing laws is not necessarily a bar to their
usefulness. It is not essential that laws should be
perpetually enforced. If only one offender in a
thousand be brought to justice, and his offence made
public, his example will deter others.

As the case now stands, men who spread conta-
gious diseases not only escape the law, but also escape
the censure of public opinion ; because that delicacy
which prevents the open discussion of sexual matters
prevents their sin from being known to the public,
and especially to the class of persons whose good
opinion is most important to them. Hence, from never
being reminded, they are apt to forget how great

15

their sin is ; and hence men are often found to speak
of giving infection with a levity which it is awful to
hear. But should the measures we have proposed
be carried into effect, and prosecutions be reported,
from time to time, in the public papers, which are
read by all classes, people's eyes would be opened.
Young men, being aware that their acquaintances
know what is going on in the world, will be anxious
to avoid even the suspicion of such a degree of tur-
pitude ; and, with the general improvement of morals
which must follow, there will be a corresponding
diminution of contagion.

APPENDIX A.

The colony alluded to is Hong-Kong. This colony has not confined
its legislation to indirect enactments. On the 23rd May, 1867, it passed
an ordinance (No. 10 of that year), which decreed that, if any man be
proved to have infected with a contagious disease the inmate of a brothel,
he shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment.

We wish we could add that such an attempt at legislation had been a
successful one. But from all the information we have been able to
collect from residents in the colony, we believe that it has hitherto been
a dead letter. The fact is discouraging ; for if so salutary a law cannot
be carried out in a small island, having a male population for the most
part inured to military discipline and a female population hardly raised
above domestic slavery, there is little hope of its being carried out in a
country like England, where the population is so large, and there is so
little control over individual actions.

Nevertheless, this colony deserves the best thanks of mankind for a
most important step made in social science. They have done what no
legislature of the Old World seems to have thought of. They have put
the two sexes on an equal footing, in theory at least ; and made pro-
vision for punishing the offender, as well as the comparatively helpless
sufferer.

APPENDIX B.

Perhaps nothing shows the one-sidedness of public opinion more than
the partial use of these epithets. A " young man " is said to have kept
company with a " bad woman." How little does the person who so
speaks reflect that the male offender is probably the older, and certainly
the worst of the two.

APPENDIX C.

Whether syphilis will ever be admitted as a plea for rendering the
marriage contract void, is a question which is hardly suitable for a
brochure like the present.

Nevertheless, if it be once admitted, for the sake of argument, that
the Christian dispensation authorizes us to consider cruelty a reason for
annulling the matrimonial tie, syphilis may certainly be included in that
category.

When we think how many children are registered every week as dying
of syphilis, and how much the number so described in the registers must
fall short of the reality — when we think how many more are doomed to
live out a life of protracted misery — and, lastly, when we think of the
broken constitutions and mental anxieties of so many mothers, we can-
not but long for a time when this mass of misery will be avoided by
some measure of relief for women.

The instances of women wishing for separation would, of course, be
rare. They would be rare amongst women of the higher classes, both
on account of their reluctance to incur publicity, and their repugnance
to return to the single state, to which, in the higher ranks, so many dis-
advantages are annexed. They would be rare also amongst the lower
classes, at least amongst the peasantry, because in that rank of life the
acquaintance of the parties before marriage is generally too intimate to
admit of their being surprised at any revelations which can take place
afterwards. But to the middle classes, the facility of escaping from the
yoke of matrimony under such distressing circumstances would be a
great boon, and resorted to often enough to impress libertines with a
salutary dread of exposure.

HENDERSON, KAIT, AND FENTON, PRINTERS, 69, 1IARYLEBONE LANE, OXFORD STREET,